Notorious Amazon Drone Delivery Promo Wasn't Shot in the US Because It Was Illegal

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Now at 13 million views, the Amazon Prime Air drone delivery promo swept through the interwebs for its awesome/terrifying glimpse into the future of e-commerce. It's essential promise of near-instant home delivery conjured up visions of utopic futures, as well as dystopic Matrix-type scenarios—A dystopia where robot overlords flitting about in the sky bombard humanity into submission by dropping small five pound boxes on us from aloft.

Last time we posted about the video, we speculated about why in the hell Amazon announced the drones when they did, given that FAA legislation outlining the legality of drones in US airspace wouldn't be complete until 2015 at the most optimistic projections, 2020 looking like a more realistic date.

Lo and behold, word came out today that Amazon had to film the video internationally for those very reasons. Shooting the video in the US would've been illegal, so Amazon went abroad, according to the Washington Post:

"Spokespeople for Amazon and the Federal Aviation Administration have confirmed that the company chose an international location for its concept video after FAA restrictions prevented them from shooting here. Exactly which lucky country got a cameo is still a mystery; neither official would talk specifics."